Flames
by order.golden.beak
Summary: Kataang. AU. And so four became three, and peace became war.


In the beginning, the only thing to set the night apart from any other was the amount of rain falling from the sky.

The water pounded the window with such fury and speed that Katara was almost sure it would break the glass. She sighed as she looked at her reflection in the window, and resigned to making the soup. Setting the stove to a boil, she flipped the pages in an old cookbook.

She could see herself in the water. Her dark skin was wrinkled near her lips, for they had been pulled into a slight frown. She pulled her brunette hair into a bun so she could see easier while cooking. Katara laughed in spite of herself as the water came to a boil and her image disappeared.

"Sokka, do we have any more catfish?" she called out to her brother.

He sat up from his place on the floor wear he was examining his boot and walked into the small kitchen. "I think Gran Gran might've bought some last time she went to the market."

Katara turned around and glared at her brother. The boy wore his hair tightly pulled back into a short ponytail. His clothes were worn, and where they were ripped, they were mended with thin thread. "That was three weeks ago."

"Right… well, then, I don't think we have any."

Katara rolled her eyes, and looked outside the window again. Her own piercing blue eyes looked back at her, through the water droplets accumulating from the storm. Her hair had started to fall out of its loose bun.

"This's got to be the biggest storm in years," Sokka mused, also looking out the glass pane. "Hey… Hey, what is that?"

Katara followed where Sokka was pointing. There was a dark figure in the distance, running towards the hut. Her breath caught in her throat. There were many possibilities regarding who the mysterious person could be. It could be a neighbor, asking for some ingredient. The village was small and market by the shore was closed on account of the weather, so that could have been likely. It could be a messenger with news about the war. Before she could say anything, Sokka had grabbed the spear near the front entrance, pulled on his parka, and started out into the storm.

"Sokka!" Katara similarly pulled her hood over her head. "Sokka, what are you doing?"

She ran out after him. Before either of them could round the side of hut to where they had seen the figure, there was a loud thud. Sokka had fallen into Katara's arms, and the two of them stumbled backwards. They looked at the cause to the ground. There was a man lying in a puddle, his face covered by a hood.

Sokka pointed his spear to the man's face. "Who are you?" he asked sharply.

The mysterious man groaned and began to sit up. The hood fell from his head. He held his forehead.

Katara looked at him. He was no more than sixteen. His skin was pale, almost stark white, and his hair was black and glistening from the rain. She motioned for her brother to lower his spear.

The girl lifted her hand over her head and created a shield for the three. She stepped towards the boy. "Who," she began, "who are you?"

"Katara!" her brother hissed, pulling her back. "You know you shouldn't do that! He might be a Flame."

Katara moved her shoulder out of his grip and kept the shield overhead. "Bull, Sokka. What would a Flame be doing here?"

"He could be spying or plotting to-"

"I'm not a Flame," the boy mumbled, still rubbing his head. He looked at Sokka. "You have a hard head."

Katara giggled. Sokka simply glared at him.

"Answer our question," he snarled, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

The pale-skinned boy moved to get up, and stumbled upon rising. He leant against the wall of the hut. Katara placed a light hand on his arm.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," his mouth twitched upward. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm Aang."

She smiled and offered him a hand. "Katara. And this is my paranoid brother, Sokka."

Sokka turned his head downwards and grumbled. "Not paranoid…"

There was an awkward pause.

"What are doing here?" Katara finally questioned, not unkindly.

"I was traveling," Aang answered uneasily. "And then this storm started…"

She spoke quickly. "Would you like to come in? You look freezing."

Aang grinned broadly. "That would be fantastic. If it's alright with your brother."

"He's alright with it!" Katara grabbed the boy's arm and began walking back to the entrance of her home. Sokka stood, floored. He didn't move until the water shield that his sister had maintained no longer covered his head.

He darted inside. Katara was already taking this kid's coat and giving him a blanket. He said something and she laughed.

"Here, you can sit by the fire," she put a fur on the floor, "I'm making some soup right now."

Aang sat down and let his head fall into the stone neighboring the hearth. He sighed.

Sokka, very wet, stormed angrily over to his sister. "A word?" he demanded.

"Let me just finish making this soup."

"No, we're talking about this now."

"_No_," she snapped, "we are _not_ talking about this now."

Sokka crossed his arms over his chest and nodded towards the pot on the stove. It was freezing over.

Katara's eyes widened. "Your fault, Sokka."

"What?" he exclaimed wildly. "What? No! This is so not my fault. Just because you can't control your little water magic skill thingy-"

"I can too control it! _You_ just make me angry and…"

There was a cough. Both siblings turned and looked at the boy sitting on the floor. He was dozing off, his eyelids slowly closing.

"Who do you think he is?"

"Sokka!" Katara scolded.

"What, he can't hear us," he responded numbly.

Katara signed for what seemed like the umpteenth time that night. "I don't really know. He seems nice though. We should let him stay here at least until the storm passes by."

0.o

"When will this storm pass?" Zuko growled impatiently.

His uncle and he were sitting in a cave, watching the gallons of rain pour from the sky. Uncle Iroh finished assembling a fire pit and with a quick flick of his fingers, a fire sprung from the damp air.

"I imagine the eye of the storm is two hours from passing over us," he said, "Then the storm will be almost half way completed."

"It's been pouring for over two days!"

Iroh nodded, and his mouth twitched upwards. "Then it will have passed in three."

0.o

So yeah, prologue. Or first chapter? Done. And it's pretty bad, I think, but I just wanted to establish an overall character web… plot.. uhm.. yeah. But please review, (please?), with comments and such, and any constructive criticism and all. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. I know, this one's really short, but the next one will be longer and better. Yay? Anyways, hope you all are having a fantastic holiday. Thanks! Over and out.


End file.
